Starbucks founder fears for ‘fiber’ of U.S.

SEATTLE — Starbucks founder and chairman Howard Schultz said Tuesday that the events surrounding a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend have put the “moral fiber” of the country in question.

Schultz said at an employee forum in Seattle that he has “profound concern about the lack of character, morality, humanity,” displayed at the rally, according to a recap of the meeting posted on Starbucks’ website.

“The moral fiber, the values, and what we as a country have stood for is literally hanging in the abyss,” Schultz told employees. “We are at a critical juncture in American history. That is not an exaggeration. We are at and facing a crucible in which our daily life is being challenged and being questioned about what is right and what is wrong.”

A throng of hundreds, mostly white men and many carrying guns, converged on the college town Saturday, yelling anti-Semitic and racist slurs and carrying Confederate flags and neo-Nazi and KKK signs. A street fight broke out between them and counter pro testers, and a woman was killed and others injured when a man drove a car into people marching against the rally.

Telling employees he was speaking to them “as an American, as a Jew, as a parent, as a grandparent,” Schultz said it’s hard to remain optimistic about the country’s future “in the midst of such a storm” but he still is.

— Bloomberg News